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Key FindingsIn a climate of pervasive government information

control, particularly severe religious freedom violations

persist in Turkmenistan. Police raids and harassment

of registered and unregistered religious groups contin-

ued. The country’s laws, policies, and practices violate

international human rights norms, including those on

freedom of religion or belief, and new administrative

code provisions increased the penalties for most “ille-

gal” religious activities. Turkmen law does not allow a

civilian alternative to military service, and at least one

Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector is known to

be detained. In light of these severe violations, USCIRF

recommends in 2015 that the U.S. government again

designate Turkmenistan as a “country of particular

concern,” or CPC, under the International Religious

Freedom Act (IRFA). In July 2014, the State Department

designated Turkmenistan a CPC for the first time.

USCIRF has recommended CPC designation for Turk-

menistan since 2000.

BackgroundTurkmenistan has an estimated total population of 5.1

million. Official Turkmen data on religious affiliation

are not available; the U.S. government estimates that the

country is about 85 percent Sunni Muslim, nine percent

Russian Orthodox, and a two percent total that includes

Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, and evangelical Christians.

While most Russians and Armenians belong to the

Russian Orthodox Church, a significant number attend

unregistered religious meetings as do an increasing

number of ethnic Turkmen. The small number of Shi’a

Muslims is mostly ethnic Iranians, Azeris, or Kurds on

the Iranian border or on the Caspian Sea. The Jewish

community consists of approximately 400 Jews.

Turkmenistan is the most closed country in the for-

mer Soviet Union. The country’s first president, Sapar-

murat Niyazov, who died in late 2006, oversaw one of the

world’s most repressive and isolated states. Turkmeni-

stan’s public life was dominated by Niyazov’s quasi-reli-

gious personality cult set out in his book, the Ruhnama,

which was imposed on the country’s religious and

educational systems. After assuming the presidency in

early 2007, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov

ordered the release of 11 political prisoners, including

the former chief mufti; placed certain limits on Niya-

zov’s personality cult; set up two new official human

rights commissions; and registered 13 minority religious

groups. He eased police controls on internal travel and

allowed Turkmenistan to become slightly more open to

the outside world.

Since that early period, President Berdimuhame-

dov has not reformed the country’s oppressive laws,

maintains a state structure of repressive control, and

has reinstituted a pervasive presidential personality

cult. Turkmenistan’s constitution purports to guaran-

tee religious freedom, the separation of religion from

the state, and equality regardless of religion or belief.

The 2003 religion law, however, contradicts these

provisions. Despite minor reforms in 2007, this law sets

intrusive registration criteria and bans any activity

by unregistered religious organizations; requires that

the government be informed of all foreign financial

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Turkmenistan is the most closed country in the former Soviet Union.

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support; forbids worship in private homes; allows only

clerics to wear religious garb in public; and places

severe and discriminatory restrictions on religious

education. The government-appointed Council on

Religious Affairs (CRA) supervises religious matters;

it controls the hiring, promoting, and firing of Sunni

Muslim and Russian Orthodox clergy; censors reli-

gious texts; and oversees the activities of all registered

groups. CRA members include only government offi-

cials and Sunni Muslim and Russian Orthodox Church

representatives. A new demonstrations law enacted in

March 2015 potentially allows for limited public rallies,

including by registered religious organizations. Rallies

must be at least 200 meters from government buildings

and cannot be funded by individuals or foreign govern-

ments, RFE/RL reported.

A new Internet law was published in December

2014; it is now illegal for citizens to insult or slander

Turkmenistan’s president in web postings, RFE/

RL reported. While the law states there are plans to

ensure free access to the worldwide web for Turkmen

Internet users, in 2015 the Turkmen government

reportedly has engaged in a campaign to dismantle

private satellite cables.

In 2014 and early 2015, Turkmen border guards

reportedly were killed by the Taliban on the Turk-

men-Afghan border. This region of Afghanistan also

reportedly includes some Turkmen who allegedly are

Islamic State sympathizers, giving rise to concern about

possible religious radicalism spreading across the bor-

der into Turkmenistan.

Religious Freedom Conditions 2014–2015Punishments for Religious and Human Rights Activities

In January 2014, new administrative code provisions

increased the penalties for most “illegal” religious activi-

ties. The government continues to impose harsh penal-

ties, such as imprisonment, forced drug treatment, and

fines, for religious and human rights activities. In recent

years, Muslims, Protestants, and Jehovah’s Witnesses

were detained, fined, imprisoned or internally exiled for

their religious beliefs or activities. Most religious pris-

oners of conscience are held at Seydi Labor Camp in the

Lebap Region desert, where they face harsh conditions,

including torture. The government of Turkmenistan

denies the International Committee of the Red Cross

access to the country’s prisons.

An unknown number of Muslim prisoners of con-

science remain jailed. In February 2015, five prisoners

convicted of “Wahhabism” were sent to Seydi Labor

Camp, where reportedly prison guards brutally beat

them. The NGO Forum 18 News Service could not

determine if the five men were jailed for non-violent

religious practice or for crimes, since in Central Asia

the term “Wahhabi” is commonly used to describe any

devout Muslim. In December 2014, a group of about 10

Muslim religious prisoners were transferred from that

labor camp to the high-security prison in Ovadan-Depe.

Reports have faded of a dissident imam who spent years

in a psychiatric hospital; this news drought also applies

to dozens of other political and religious prisoners,

according to the NGO coalition known as “Prove they

are Alive.”

On a positive note, in October 2014 two known

religious prisoners of conscience were released under

presidential amnesty from a labor camp in eastern Turk-

menistan, Forum 18 reported. In February 2015, Protes-

tant Umid Gojayev, imprisoned at Seydi Labor Camp for

“hooliganism,” also was freed under amnesty.

Government Control over Religious Activities

The secret police, anti-terrorist police units, local

government, and local CRA officials continued to raid

registered and unregistered religious communities. It

is illegal for unregistered groups to rent, purchase, or

construct places of worship, and even registered groups

must obtain scarce government permits. A decree

The government continues to impose harsh penalties . . . for religious and human rights activities.

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banned publication of religious texts inside Turkmeni-

stan and only registered groups can legally import such

texts. In September 2014 in Dashoguz, Jehovah’s Witness

Bibi Rahmanova was detained for a month and physi-

cally abused for distributing religious texts; she received

a four-year suspended sentence on trumped-up charges

of assaulting a police officer, according to Forum 18.

Forum 18 also reported that a Protestant outside Ash-

gabat was fined in September 2014 after a relative was

found to have electronic versions of religious texts. The

religion law also bans private religious education.

The government continues to deny international

travel for many citizens, especially those travelling to

religious events. For the approximately 110,000 mainly

Russian Orthodox who have dual Russian-Turkmen

citizenship, it is easier to meet with their coreligionists

abroad and for clerical training. Muslims, however, are

not allowed to travel abroad for religious education,

and the government also restricts hajj participation.

In 2014, it requested a quota of 650 Turkmen Muslims

to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, according to Forum

18. While this number was an increase over the usual

188, it is still less than a seventh of the country’s quota.

Muslims often must wait up to 11 years to reach the top

of the hajj waiting list.

Conscientious Objectors

Turkmen law has no civilian alternative to military

service for conscientious objectors. Reportedly such a bill

was drafted in 2013 but not enacted. Those who refuse to

serve in the military can face up to two years of jail. Until

2009 the Turkmen government had given suspended

sentences, but since then conscientious objectors have

been imprisoned. Jehovah’s Witness conscientious

objector Soyunmurat Korov is being involuntarily held

in an Ashgabat military hospital. On a positive note, in

October 2014, six imprisoned conscientious objectors

were amnestied and released by presidential order, and in

February 2015, Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector

Ruslan Narkuliyev was released, Forum 18 reported.

Registration of Religious Groups

Since 2005, some small religious groups have been

registered, such as the Baha’i, several Pentecostal

groups, Seventh-Day Adventists, several Evangelical

churches, and the Society for Krishna Consciousness.

In 2010, Turkmenistan told the UN Human Rights

Committee there were 123 registered religious groups,

100 of which are Sunni and Shi’a Muslim and 13

Russian Orthodox. Some groups have decided not to

register due to the onerous and opaque process, while

certain Shi’a Muslim groups, the Armenian Apostolic

Church, some Protestant groups, and the Jehovah’s

Witnesses have faced rejection of numerous registra-

tion applications.

Government Interference in Internal Religious Affairs

The Turkmen government interferes in the internal

leadership and organizational arrangements of reli-

gious communities. In early 2013, the President named

a new Grand Mufti. The government also has replaced

imams who had formal Islamic theological training

from abroad with individuals lacking such education,

as it is official policy not to name imams if they have had

foreign theological training. Local secret police officers

reportedly require Muslim and Orthodox clerics to

report regularly on activities.

U.S. PolicyFor the past decade, U.S. policy in Central Asia was

dominated by the Afghan war. The United States has key

security and economic interests in Turkmenistan due to

its proximity to and shared populations with Afghanistan

and Iran, and its huge natural gas supplies. Although offi-

cially neutral and in the Northern Distribution Network

for the delivery of supplies to U.S. troops and Interna-

tional Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Afghanistan,

The government interferes in the internal leadership and arrangements of religious communities

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the country has allowed U.S. flights with non-lethal

supplies to refuel at the Ashgabat International Airport.

The United States is training Turkmenistan’s fledg-

ling navy, and holding exchange programs on English

language and naval administration. During counter-

terrorism operations, U.S. Special Operations Forces

reportedly have been allowed to enter Turkmenistan on

a “case-by-case” basis, with the Turkmen government’s

permission. The U.S government also has encouraged

a joint Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India

project, known as “TAPI,” to construct a major gas

pipeline, scheduled to begin in 2015. This project could

help stabilize the Turkmen gas export market and create

economic and political bonds with energy-poor South

Asian markets.

Initiated five years ago by the State Department,

the Annual Bilateral Consultations (ABC’s) are a regular

mechanism for the United States and Turkmenistan to

discuss a wide range of bilateral issues, including regional

security, economic and trade relations; social and cul-

tural ties; and human rights. As part of the ABC process,

Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian

Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal led an interagency delegation

to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, in January 2014 for the third

U.S.-Turkmen ABC. While in Ashgabat, Assistant Secre-

tary Biswal met with senior Turkmenistan officials, but it

is not in the public record if she also met with representa-

tives of civil society or religious groups. Religious freedom

concerns traditionally have been raised in these forums.

The United States funds programs in Turkmenistan

that support: civil society organizations; training on

legal assistance; Internet access and computer training;

capacity building for civil servants, as well as exchange

programs. In recent years, however, the Turkmen

government has barred many students from participat-

ing in U.S.-funded exchange programs and in 2013 it

ordered the Peace Corps to stop its 20-year-operations in

the country. The U.S. government continues to support

three American Corners that provide free educational

materials and English language opportunities in

Dashoguz, Mary, and Turkmenabat. The American Cor-

ners Program is a worldwide Department of State-spon-

sored initiative that was started over 10 years ago.

The State Department announced the designation

of Turkmenistan as a “country of particular concern” in

late July 2014 when it released its annual report on inter-

national religious freedom. The State Department cited

“concerns about the detention and imprisonment of

religious minorities, the rights of religious groups to reg-

ister, the lack of public access to registration procedures,

and restrictions on importing religious literature.” In

September 2014, a waiver of a Presidential action was

tied to the designation.

RecommendationsThe recent CPC designation positions the U.S. govern-

ment to negotiate commitments to improve religious

freedom, while establishing a pathway to eventually

de-list Turkmenistan based on concrete reforms. In

addition to recommending that the U.S. government

continue to designate Turkmenistan as a CPC, USCIRF

recommends that the U.S. government should:

• Negotiate a binding agreement with the govern-

ment of Turkmenistan under section 405(c) of IRFA

to achieve specific and meaningful reforms, with

benchmarks that include major legal reform, an end

to police raids, prisoner releases, and greater access

to foreign coreligionists; should an agreement

not be reached, the waiver of Presidential actions

should be lifted;

• Ensure that the U.S. Embassy maintains active

contacts with human rights activists and press the

Turkmen government to ensure that every prisoner

has greater access to his or her family, human rights

monitors, adequate medical care, and a lawyer;

• Raise concerns about Turkmenistan’s record on

religious freedom and related human rights in

bilateral meetings, such as the ABCs, as well as

appropriate international fora, including the UN

and OSCE; encourage the UN Regional Centre for

Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA)

to enhance the human rights aspect of its work;

• Urge the Turkmen government to agree to another

visit by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of

Religion or Belief, as well as visits from the Rap-

porteurs on Independence of the Judiciary and on

Torture, set specific visit dates, and provide the full

and necessary conditions for their visits;

• Encourage the Broadcasting Board of Governors to

increase radio broadcasts and Internet programs

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to Turkmenistan on religious freedom, including

the informative new Islam and Democracy website,

as well as information on human rights and basic

education, to help overcome decades of isolation;

• Continue to press for resumption of the U.S. Peace

Corps program; and

• Use funding allocated to the State Department

under the Title VIII Program (established in the

Soviet-Eastern European Research and Training

Act of 1983) for research, including on human rights

and religious freedom in former Soviet states, and

language training.

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